NEW DELHI – US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told India‘s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday it was important India cut its dependence on Iranian oil and said the United States would work to allow India to use an Iranian port as corridor to Afghanistan.

The United States has told countries to cut all imports of Iranian oil from November and is unlikely to offer any exemptions, a senior State Department official said on Tuesday as the Trump administration ramps up pressure on allies to cut off funding to Iran.

The Indian-backed Chabahar port complex in Iran is being developed as part of a new transportation corridor for land-locked Afghanistan that could potentially open the way for millions of dollars in trade and cut its dependence on Pakistan, its sometimes-hostile neighbor.